Low-fee Private Schooling and Poverty in Developing Countries

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In Low-fee Private Schooling and Poverty in Developing Countries, Joanna Hrm draws on primary research carried out in sub-Saharan African countries and in India to show how the poor are being failed by both government and private schools. The primary research data and experiences are combined with additional examples from around the world to offer a wide perspective on the issue of marketized education, low-fee private schooling and government systems. Hrm offers a pragmatic approach to a divisive issue and an ideologically-driven debate and shows how the well-intentioned international drive towards education for all is being encouraged and even imposed long before some countries have prepared the teachers and developed the systems needed to implement it successfully. Suggesting that governments need to take a much more constructive approach to the issue, Hrm argues for a greater acceptance of the challenges, abandoning ideological positions and a scaling back of ambition in the hope of laying stronger foundations for educational development.

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For its scope and detail, Low-Fee Private Schooling and Poverty in Developing Countries will prove indispensable to scholars and policymakers alike. Drawing on two decades of research and work in this field, Joanna Hrm explores the educational challenges facing governments across the developing world and assesses strategies to meet them. * Samuel E. Abrams, Director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, USA *
Education has the power to transform lives. Yet millions of the worlds poorest children are in education systems that deliver limited learning, failed by education systems that deliver limited learning, trapping them in a cycle of disadvantage and restricted opportunity. Low-fee private schools have often been embraced as the antidote to the failure of government educational and as a route to opportunity and equity. In this thoughtful, intelligent, informative and highly accessible book, Joanna Hrm demolishes the free market myths underpinning the case for low-fee private schools, while recognising the deep structural failures of public education systems serving the poor. Grounded in her deep personal connections and with communities in India and Nigeria, as well as meticulous research, Joanna Hrm weaves the story that the children left behind would want her to tell the story of a structural inequalities and unequal power relationships that rob so many children of their potential. Written with a rare mix of humility and indignation her book is a must-read for policy-makers, campaigners, and anyone who cares about the place of education in development. * Kevin Watkins, Chief Executive of Save the Children, UK *

Author Bio

Joanna Hrm is Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for International Education, University of Sussex, UK; Honorary Fellow at the Centre of African Studies, and Teaching Fellow at Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, UK.